


Bower

by ChokolatteJedi



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Challenge Response, Community: 1-million-words, Community: Femslashverse, F/F, Poetry, Pre-Relationship, Sestina
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-16
Updated: 2013-11-16
Packaged: 2018-01-01 20:18:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 327
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1048137
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChokolatteJedi/pseuds/ChokolatteJedi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Red and Snow happen upon each other in the forest</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bower

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the1MW Daily prompt, "Confluence" and the Femslashverse poetry challenge, for which I chose a [Sestina](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sestina)

As the birds chirped in the forest  
setting a scene of pure magic,  
a young girl - a refugee - named Snow  
was happened upon by a girl in a hood of red.  
They couldn't know, as their paths crossed,  
the future that lay ahead.

The stream beside the path came to a head  
at a place of shelter, hidden from the forest  
and most observers. Branches secretly crossed  
in coded invitation, like tracking magic.  
It was a place well known to Red  
but she didn't expect to find it occupied by Snow.

Sleeping, her skin as pale as snow,  
she looked as though she had a hard path ahead,  
and immediately sympathy for her plight filled Red.  
Slipping into the bower, silencing the surrounding forest  
Red reveled in the private moment's magic,  
and she sat, waiting, legs neatly crossed.

When Snow awoke, her eyes almost crossed  
at the site of a young woman beside her. Snow,  
groggy, couldn't believe the girl wasn't magic:  
some savior sprite come to protect her head  
from Regina's wrath with her knowledge of the forest.  
Snow was oddly reassured by her cloak of blood red.

As their stories tumbled out, it became clear to Red  
that this girl had been betrayed and double-crossed,  
and yet had somehow survived the harsh forest.  
Red vowed to help her new friend Snow  
and keep the Queen's men from getting ahead  
of her despite their ruler's dark magic.

Red had a few tricks up her sleeve: natural magic  
and wood knowledge, and her protective cloak of red.  
As the stream below them burbled to a head,  
two new friends plotted a path to be crossed  
that would hopefully lead to safety for Snow  
and allow peace to again settle into the scarred forest.

Blessed by natural magic, the bower's barrier wasn't crossed,  
and the pained heart of Red became soothed by icy cool snow.  
When they parted, gently knocking heads, harmony began to spread through the forest.


End file.
